


Still Life

by astraplain



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-30
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-04-01 22:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4037002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astraplain/pseuds/astraplain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Justin's trying to paint but Brian has other ideas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Still Life

"Keep your hands off my orange."

"Just your orange?" Brian taunted, fingers hovering over the arrangement of fruit on the table. "Can I touch your banana? Nibble on your grapes?" Brian leaned closer so his face was just above Justin's sketchpad. "Taste your cherry?"

The scratch of pencil over paper stopped for a second and, although Justin smirked he didn't look up. "Sorry, all out of cherries, but if you move any of that fruit I'll have to kill you slowly." Justin finally glanced at the array of fruit, and his grin twisted into a grimace. He returned to his sketch with the air of someone doing hard time.

"You don't exactly look inspired, Sunshine. Perhaps you need some motivation."

"I don't think even you could salvage this." Justin tossed the sketchpad down onto the floor with a scowl. He resisted - just barely - the urge to rip the thing into pieces and scream. Instead, he sighed, "How am I going to finish something in time for the art show if I can't even get the preliminary sketch right?"

Brian left the fruit untouched on the dining room table and walked the short distance towards Justin, moving around his chair and trailing a hand lightly across the younger man's shoulder to the back of his neck. The muscles were so tense they felt like steel. "You need a break or you'll work yourself into a migraine."

"I know," Justin agreed, and looked up at Brian as the older man finished his circle and stopped beside Justin's chair. "But I have to get this done. I made a commitment to Lindsay and the GLC fundraising committee and I can't back out now just because I can't draw a stupid orange." Justin threw himself back against the seat and crossed his arms like a petulant four-year-old.

"It can't be that bad," Brian said calmly, picking up the sketchpad and making a show of examining the half-finished drawing. He held the paper high and turned away so his soft smile was hidden from Justin's view.

"The grapes are OK, I guess," Justin conceded, standing up and moving to Brian's side. He slipped under Brian's upraised arm and pressed back slightly, letting the warmth of Brian's presence calm him. "The banana's not bad either," he determined after careful scrutiny, "but the orange... I just can't get the skin texture right. It looks diseased."

Brian nodded, slowly, critically assessing the work. Justin was overplaying the drama as usual, but he was consistently honest in appraising his own work.

"The thing is, I don't really like doing still life, but the contest requires it, and since the entries will be auctioned for charity, I couldn't refuse."

Brian lowered the sketchpad and pressed a kiss to the back of Justin's head, his mind already working on the solution to Justin's problem. Static images held no interest for the energetic young artist, but how to breathe life into a picture of fruit...

Justin's stomach growled, and Brian smirked. Perfect.

Tossing the sketchpad aside, he turned Justin to face him, holding him tightly. He kissed the compliant man while walking him backwards until the table edge pressed against the back of Justin's legs. Brian lifted Justin up and sat him on the table beside the uninspiring fruit.

Ignoring Justin's protest, Brian reached over and picked up the banana, peeling it partway and pressing the exposed fruit to Justin's lips.

"Brian," Justin wailed, looking down at the ruins of the fruit arrangement.

"Bite," Brian instructed, shoving the banana at him and leaning in closer so that all Justin could see was him.

After a moment's hesitation, Justin's tongue darted out to test the fruit before he sank his teeth into it. His eyes caught Brian's and held them while he chewed, expectation bright in the blue depths.

Reaching blindly, Brian found the cluster of grapes and freed several, popping one into his mouth before trading the rest to Justin for a bite of his banana.

When the banana peel was left empty and the cluster of grapes reduced to the last few undersized spheres, Brian reached out and slid his hands under Justin's shirt. He lifted it up and off, fingers cool against the heat of the young man's skin. He leaned forward, kissing Justin as he pressed him back to lie across the table.

Standing between Justin's knees, Brian held the orange up for inspection. Sinking his fingernails into the flesh, he tore away the outer skin, revealing the sweet center.

With the peel cast off to the side, Brian separated the orange segments, breaking them apart. Juice ran over his fingers and down onto Justin's chest, making him shiver.

They alternated feeding each other and licking the tangy sweet juice from fevered skin until the only thing left to consume was each other.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Smells like oranges," Brian commented to the naked man curled up on the sofa sketching frantically.

Justin's eyes danced between the paper and the scattered remnants of his still life materials. He was smiling and his skin was still sticky-shiny.

They'd rested together just briefly after making love and Brian had felt the change in his lover; the spark that compelled the young man to draw-paint-create was back. Justin fairly glowed with the energy of it and Brian, as always, was drawn to him because of it.

The new arrangement was mirrored in the lines of Justin's sketch - an empty goblet on its side, a crumpled napkin, and the remnants of the fruit they'd shared, all viewed from an across-the-room distance and slightly off center. Unlike the failed drawing from earlier, there was energy here, and the sense of intimacy and life just outside the frame.

Brian leaned down and pressed a kiss against Justin's shoulder. "Got a name for this yet?"

"No, I hadn't really thought about it." Justin looked up at him, eyes full of so much more than love for the older man. "Got some fancy words for me?"

"Just some simple ones, Justin," Brian looked back, his own eyes as full as the young artist's.

A week later Justin presented the finished product to the committee, complete with Brian's title scripted in the lower right corner:

Still, life...


End file.
